What the newspapers say: May 11, 2007

de HotNews.ro

Vineri, 11 mai 2007, 0:00

The Justice scandals don't seem to have an end and burst at such short distances that one may think that the entire deal turns into a smoke curtain designed to keep the people's mind off the referendum.Not to stand out from the crowd, but to follow the general tone, the Transport Ministry follows in scandals.

Justice Minister Tudor Chiuariu managed to open a new scandal after replacing the deputy chief of the National Jails Administration (ANP). Sorin Dumitrascu, with a prosecutor coming from his home town.Dumitrascu said on Thursday that he may have been sacked due to the investigation he conducted against the ANP general manager, who made a habit out of employing his relatives, Gandul reads.According to Cotidianul, Dumitrascu had a five-year contract with the Justice Ministry and could not have been sacked the way he was.

To make things worse, the speaker in the House of Deputies, Bogdan Olteanu, managed to stir the scandals even more, demanding four prosecutors to come and be heard by a Parliamentarian Commission.Olteanu was almost instantly denounced by the Prosecutor General to the Judges' Superior Council, for interfering with the Justice processes, Evenimentul Zilei.

But it all has a reverse: Jurnalul National found an older case, similar to the current scandals, where nothing was ever heard through the media.A former anti-corruption prosecutor, replaced along with 17 other prosecutors by the former Justice Minister Monica Macovei reveals that not only was he sacked the same way Chiuariu attempted to fire Tulus (see Hotnews.ro for details), but he was also under political pressure in some important cases.

Not to be left out of the media the Transport Minister Ludovic Orban managed to disperse all members of the Ministry's Control Body, after he was briefed on the general corruption in the institution, Jurnalul National reads, thus becoming the third minister informed on the situation who doesn't take any actions.Even more, Cotidianul found out that he brought his own man to take charge of the Control Body in the Transport Ministry, choosing for this seat his Liberal mate, Demirel Spiridon.

In the news about the referendum, the only thing happening was the unexpected outburst of Social Democrat "string-man" Viorel Hrebenciuc, who called the suspended president Traian Basescu a "stinking, sweaty, drunk sailor".

The reaction came after Basescu's speech in Cluj, when Hrebenciuc was listed as one of Romania's oligarchs and main organizer of Basescu's suspension, Gandul reads.

This was the big picture on May 10, the traditional day of Monarchy in Romania. Taking the occasion, King Michael I of Romania held a speech, asking all politicians to build a new Constitution, one to fit Romania's statute as an European state, Evenimentul Zilei reads.

In other news:

- Evenimentul Zilei: Dinu Patriciu, recently placed by the suspended president Basescu as head of list in Romania's oligarchs, opened his first "Rompetrol" gas station on a highway in France, near the city of Carcassone. A second one is almost ready to function just "across the street".

- Gandul: The car registration tax level will decrease between 30 and 70%, considering the age, the price and the engine size of the car.

- Gandul: The national currency, RON, reached a new maximum, of 3.2841 units per euro, days after the analysts said the 3.3 level won't e crossed anytime soon. Compared to the US Dollar, RON reached a new record level, 2.4261 RON, a price it last seen in October 2000.

- Romania Libera: The US Air Force will open a small center in Bucharest, in order to co-ordinate the military exercises their troops will conduct in Romania.

- Gandul: More phishing attempts everyday - the Piraeus Bank and Bancpost clients were the latest victims of the attempted frauds.